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"am ERIC AN PARK 
Sl^STE,MS 

Report ojf the Philadelphia 
Allied Organizations 



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Gift 
PubUiher ^^ g-ii^ 

27 MAR-1«q^j y^ 

Contents 

PAGE 

Introduction 3 

Boston 4 

Kansas Cit3' 6 

New York 8 

Staten Island lO 

Essex and Hudson Counties, New Jersey, and the Palisades . I2 

Chicago 1 + 

Milwaukee i6 

Providence, R. 1 1 8 

Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Manila 20 

New Orleans 22 

Ottawa, Canada 24 

Baltimore 26 

Harrisburg 28 

Memphis 30 

Omaha, Toledo and Louisville 32 

Cleveland 36 

St. Louis 40 

St. Paul and Minneapolis 44 

Hartford, Connecticut , 46 

Buffalo 48 

Washington, D. C 52 

L' Envoi 54 

Appendix 56 

Description of St. Paul Group Plan, by Cass Gilbert . . 56 

The Situation in Baltimore, by Sherlock Swann .... 60 



Inquiries concerning tlie Philadelphia movement may be addressed to 
Andiew Wright Crawford, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Allied 
Organizations of Philadelphia, 701 Stephen Girard Building, Philadelphia, Pa. 



American Park Systems 

REPORT OF THE ORGANIZATIONS ALLIED FOR THE ACQUISITION OF 

A COMPREHENSIVE PARK SYSTEM FOR PHILADELPHIA, 

ON THE EXISTING AND PROPOSED SYSTEMS 

OF OTHER AMERICAN CITIES 

FACTS not fancies, works not wishes, mark the successful national 
movement for the preservation of places of natural beauty for 
the use of the public and the substitution of city squares and 
playgrounds for spots of wretched squalor and ugliness. This move- 
ment, which has secured marked headway in the last few years, has pro- 
duced notable results. Park systems in some cities are almost complete, 
in others they are half finished. In yet others, like our own, where 
parks however fine in themselves are inadequate for the needs of a city 
that has far outgrown them, the work of adding well-chosen areas and 
of connecting the scattered parks into a system has just begun. 

Believing that Philadelphia has opportunities that are second to none 
in this direction, and that knowledge of what others are doing may be 
helpful in the realization of the plans that have been made for adding 
to the attractiveness of all sections of Philadelphia, the allied organiza- 
tions publish herewith a number of maps which show the e.xisting and 
proposed park systems and plans for the grouping of important build- 
ings in several American cities. In each of these maps the ground now 
in public ownership is shown in green, that which it is proposed to secure, 
in brown. As the maps are not all made to the same scale, reference 
to the scale of each is advisable. 

While the mere fact that other cities are acquiring such systems may 
not prove that Philadelphia should do so, it remains true that the 
reasons that impelled such action apply with equal force to this city. 



Boston 



First place must be given to the most comprehensive, complete anJ admirable of 
American park systems, that of Boston. Ten years ago but two-fifths of the pres- 
ent area had been acquired ; for the combination of parks in and near Boston into 
a system and the addition of vast areas have been effected since 1893. 

Within the circuit of the Boston Metropolitan Park System are thirty -nine 
municipalities. Each bore its part of the cost in proportion to its resources and 
benefits, a proportion determined by a special commission. To secure an adequate 
system for Philadelphia, it will be necessary to obtain parks in Montgomery and 
Delaware counties. In other words, instead of the cooperation of thirty-nine polit- 
ical entities, the park movement in Philadelphia will require that of but three. 

Within eleven miles of the Boston State House there are over 15,000 acres of 
park land and twenty-five miles of parkways. Within eleven miles of Boston State 
House there are 1, 200,000 people, or 200,000 less than the population of Philadel- 
phia. In Philadelphia we have about 4,060 acres of park land and about one mile 
of parkway. The Metropolitan Park Commission alone has expended in ten years 
over eleven millions of dollars, three-fifths of which was for the cost of land. Tlie 
Massachusetts Legislature of 1 903 appropriated to the Commission a further sum 
of $3,000,000. 

It will be noticed, by reference to the map, that Boston's system has not yet 
been entirely completed. Alost of the proposed additions are in outlying sections 
which are not immediately threatened by building operations. Of the two most 
notable proposals yet to be accomplished, one has already been provided for by an 
appropriation to the Park Commission of Boston. This is the extension of the 
Charles River Reservation along the southern bank of the river to the Charlesbank 
Playground, — an operation which in many features should be duplicated by the exten- 
sion of Fairmount Park along both sides of the Schuylkill southwardly to Bartram's 
Garden, as will be further considered in a later report. 

The other great improvement bears some analogy to the Fairmount Park Park- 
way. This Boston improvement is the proposed main connection between the 
northern and southern portions of the svstem, directly across Cambridge and Somer- 
ville to the Harvard bridge. It will require the destruction of buildings throughout. 

It will be observed that Boston's largest park, the Blue Hills Reservation, lies 
about eleven miles from the State House. This is a mile and a half farther than 
the proposed parks along the Pennypack Creek and along Mill Creek are from our 
City Hall. The Blue Hills Reservation covers 4,857 acres, half again as much land 
as Fairmount Park covers. 

Boston has not only the finest park system in America, but is the leader in the 
movement for municipal playgrounds, by which is meant open spaces fitted up with 
outdoor gymnasia, running-tracks and children's sand-courts. They are not con- 
nected with schools, and are open to any child or adult. In Boston, under the 




Within eleven miles of the State House at Boston, an area occcipied by two hundred thousand 
people less than the population of Philadelphia, there are twenty-five miles of parkways connecting 
parks covering 15,175 acres. Philadelphia's park area is 4,062 acres; but it has begun, though only 
begun, to improve this showing. Its opportunities are unequaled. 

In all the maps, light green shows existing, and brown proposed, parks or parkways. 



control of the Department of Parks, there are fifteen p/ayj;rou>i(is, the location of 
which is such that every child is within a half mile of one of them, ivhile one of the 
larger athletic fields is within a mile of every child. It will thus be seen that 
Boston has not been blinded to the advantage of these smaller spaces by the more 
remarkable idea of its outer park system.^ 



Kansas City 



Boston's example is exerting the influence it deserves, but Kansas City's system, 
begun in the same year, is but little known. In 1901 it was nearly finished and 
since then some extensions have been made. It will be noticed that the map 
does not show any proposed additions, all the parks being completely connected 
into a system. Swope Park, the largest reservation, lies outside of the city bounda- 
ries ; a parkway reaches it, the part outside of the city limits having been con- 
structed at the expense of Jackson county. 

Kansas City now owns ten and one-half miles of completed boulevards, and land 
has been secured for about sixteen miles more. The total acreage is over 2,000, 
secured within ten years, while Philadelphia was resting on its laurels, unconscious 
that other cities were pushing it farther and farther from the lead in park area. 
Kansas City likewise is constructing public playgrounds, of which the Parade is the 
central one. It is equipped with all necessary apparatus for athletic sports and 
outdoor games.'-* 



I For further information, apply to John Woodbury, Secretary of the Metropolitan Park 
Commission, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. 

^ For further information, apply to George E. Kessler, Landscape Architect, 523 Frisco Building, 
St. Louis, Mo. 




Nearly all of this admirably central system of boulevards and parks has been acquired 
since 1893. The largest park is not shown. 



New Vork 



. Five years before Boston and Kansas City commenced their park systems. New 
York secured three large parks in the Borough of the Bronx, and connected them 
by splendid parkways. Van Cortlandt Park is connected with Bronx Park by the 
Mosholu Parkway, 6oo feet in width and over a mile in length. From Bronx Park 
a parkway 400 feet wide and two and a quarter miles in length, leads to the Pelham 
Bay Park, 1.756 acres in extent. It is proposed to continue the Grand Boulevard 
and Concourse southward, to connect it with Fifth -Avenue, thus completing the 
connection of the Bronx Parks with Central Park and the heart of the city at Fifty- 
ninth Street and Fifth Avenue. 

At the foot of Manhattan Island a number of small _parks have been acquired 
wnthin a decade at an expenditure of many millions of dollars. The land for three 
of them, covering ten acres, cost 55,237,363. Central Park, which covers 840 acres, 
cost for the land alone $5,028,844. It was acquired from 1853 to 1863. In other 
words, by New York's delay in securing sites for small parks and playgrounds it has 
been obliged to pay more for these three small parks than it did for the whole of 
Central Park. The advantage of securing outlying parks in time, thus strikingly 
illustrated in New York, is now well shown in Philadelphia. It is probable that 
the proposed Pennypack Park from crest to crest, through a length of six miles 
with an area of a thousand acres, can be secured for about $500,000. A triangle 
of ground two and three-fourths acres in extent, at the entrance to Fairmount Park, 
covered with houses instead of trees, has recently been condemned by the city for 
park purposes, at a cost of $400,000. 

New Yorkers, spurred on by the city's want of breathing spaces, its great 
congestion of travel and its ugliness, and inspirited by the success that the outer- 
park movement is obtaining throughout the country-, recently secured the appoint- 
ment of an ofiicial body called the New York City Improvement Commission. 
That Commission has just rendered a preliminar\- report, urging the acquisition of 
a large part of the water-front along the Hudson River and East River, the exten- 
sion of Fifth Avenue to the Grand Boulevard and Concourse already mentioned, 
and the acquisition of park areas in Staten Island and in Brooklyn. The report 
was published after the plates of the map of New York's existing system, which is 
printed herewith, had been made. A notable recommendations follows: 

"Although, as above said, the expenditures necessarily required by any proper plan 
must be large, they could in many instances be greatly reduced, if the City had the power 
exercised in manv European cities of condemning more than the area actually required, so 
that the City might reap the benefit to be derived from the enhanced value of neighboring 
property; and, in the judgment of the Commission, steps should be taken to secure such 
changes in the constitution and legislative enactments as may be necessarj' for the purpose. 
This method of taking more land than required, with the object, by resale at an advance, of 
recouping part of the expense, has been applied in various large cities of Great Britain and 

8 







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the continent where extensive alterations have been undertaken for securing architectural 
effects, remedying sanitary conditions or improving the city generally, and it is questionable 
whether many of the improvements would have been otherwise accomplished. Objections 
to giving the City such power have sometimes been raised, on the ground that it migh^ be 
abused or injudiciously exercised. In these times, however, of increasing municipal activi- 
ties, when so many more extensive powers are constantly being entrusted to those charged 
with the administration of the City's affairs, such objection can scarcely be considered 
necessarily fatal or conclusive, if proper safeguards and limitations are imposed." 

This necessity is becoming more clearly recognized throughout the United 
States. If Philadelphia had the authority to condemn land on both sides of the 
Fairmount Park Parkway, while the initial expenditure would, of course, be larger, in 
the long run it is altogether likely that the City w-ould be able to recoup itself the 
entire expense. In other words, Philadelphia's taxpayers will pay from eight to ten 
million dollars, because the City has not this authority. Further, if it had the 
authoritv, the City, having secured title to these properties, could sell the land with 
building restrictions, thus insuring a more beautiful appr.oach to our great park.^ 



Staten Island 



Two years ago, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, a business organiza- 
tion, be it noted, determined that, as that Island is likely to be a residential section, 
no time should be lost in securing a complete system of parks, playgrounds and 
parkways. It accordingly appointed a Committee, which on December 19, 1902, 
presented a report recommending the acquisition of more than 3,500 acres of parks 
and 200 acres of playgrounds. The report contains a comparison of the per capita 
park acreage of the leading cities of this country. When we find such a compari- 
son in official reports made by other cities, it would seem time for us to take vig- 
orous measures to improve Philadelphia's showing.- This is the table : 

Washington, D. C. . . .1 acre of park lands for every 78 persons 
Essex county (Newark, X. J.) . . . .1 acre for every 100 

San Francisco i " " 128 

Minneapolis i " " 14° 

St. Paul I " ■' 141 

Indianapolis i " " '57 

Louisville i " " 163 

Boston I " " 230 

Detroit I " " 233 

St. Louis I " " 272 

Cleveland i " " 277 

Philadelphia 1 " " 35° 

' For further information, apply to Secretary New York City Improvement Commission, New York 
City, N. Y. or Milo Roy Maltbie, Assistant Secretary Art Commission, City Hall, New York. 

'For further information, apply to Cornelius G. Kolflf, Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, 
Staten Island, N. Y. 

10 




A business organization, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, foreseeing that the Island 
will be residential, proposes to secure one-tenth of it for recreation purposes 



II 



Essex and Hudson Counties, New Jersey 
and the Palisades 

Within a few minutes' railroad ride of Wall street is the most remarkable county 
park system that has yet been acquired in the United States. Nearly all the citi- 
zens of Newark and the Oranges, which are located in Essex county, are New 
York business men, and therefore the park system that is about to be described is, 
in fact, a portion of the park areas reserved for New Yorkers. In 1894 there were 
in Essex county but twenty-six acres of park land and no parkways. A commission 
was then appointed, and by means of five loans, a million dollars at a time, the 
commission has acquired 3,5CK) acres of park lands and three miles of parkways. 
The parkways are described as "but the beginnings of an extensive system of con- 
necting parkways." 

In the neighboring Hudson county, in which Jersey City is located, a Park 
Commission has recently been appointed but has not yet published its first report. 
The Commissioners, however, state that their system will connect with the Pali- 
sades Interstate Park. This park is being secured by the joint action of the states 
of New Jersey and New York. It will preserve eleven miles of the shore frontage 
of the Hudson where the famous Palisades are located. About six miles have 
already been purchased. 

It will thus be seen that citizens of New York, whether they live on Man- 
hattan Island or in the Bronx, on Staten Island or in Brooklyn, or in Essex or Hudson 
counties. New Jersey, are securing park systems that are gradually becoming con- 
nected throughout. They have not been deterred by the difficulties in their way, 
such as the enormous expense of land in New York, the difficulty of securing the 
appointment of an ofScial commission by Greater New York, the difficulty of secur- 
ing State action, as in the case of New Jersey, or the greater difficulty of securing 
interstate action, as in the case of the Palisades Park. It is curious that people in 
many cities, — for Philadelphia is by no means alone in this regard, — believe that the 
difficulties that confront them are greater than those that confronted their sister 
cities. Sometimes these difficulties are exaggerated by officials in order to excuse 
delay in finding a way of overcoming them. In many ways, including the financial, 
Philadelphia has a much easier task than other cities. 



For further information regarding the Essex County Park System, apply to Alonzo Church, 
Secretary Essex County Park Commission, 800 Broad Street, Newark, N. J. 

Regarding Hudson County Park, apply to Walter G. Muirheid, Secretary Hudson County 
Park Commission, No. i Exchange Place, Jersey City, N. J. 

Regarding the Palisades Interstate Park, apply to J. DuPratt White, Secretary Palisades 
Interstate Park Commission, 31 Nassau Street, New York City. 

12 




5 3 



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Chicago 



"In 1869 Chicago began building a system of parks connected by boulevards. In 1880 
it had two thousand acres. Twenty-three years later these parks were inadequate to the 
population, and to meet the obvious need Chicago entered upon a scheme of park 
extension." 

In 1903, the Commissioners were authorized to spend $6,500,000 for new parks. 
This has gone for parks varying from five to three hundred acres in extent, mostly 
in or near centers of dense population. The average cost of construction is 
$90,000, of maintenance $20,000, per annum. This is because they contain out- 
door gymnasia, swimming-pools, etc. Grant Park, the old Lake Front of the heart 
of the city, has been increased in area fivefold; Lincoln Park greatly extended; Jack- 
son Park, where the Exposition was held, has been rehabilitated. Chicago now has 
eighty-four parks, aggregating 3,169 acres, connected by forty-nine miles of boulevard. 

Not content with these improvements, Chicago has appointed a commission to 
prepare plans for a comprehensive outer park system. Its report just presented 
shows that Chicago has much land naturally suitable for parks not many miles from 
it. The map indicates the proposed takings, though it gives but a poor idea of 
their extent. To the north, where the shore of Lake Michigan rises into bluffs 
with wooded ravines between them, is shown a park of 7,000 acres; in the west, 
another of 8,800 acres. The valley of the Desplaines River, skirted by woods and 
meadows, will afford a park drive of twenty-five miles in length. In the southwest 
the noble forests of the Palos region will give a park larger even than Blue Hills, 
near Boston, and toward the south a preserve about Lake Calumet will afford a 
recreation space for the toilers of South Chicago and Pullman. In all, eighty-four 
new parks are proposed, aggregating 37,000 acres, extending twenty-five miles into 
the country, and to be acquired at a probable cost of $25,000,000. 

All this has its suggestion for Philadelphia. Chicago foresees that its present 
system, inadequate for a city of 2,000,000 people, must be greatly augmented in the 
near future if conditions are to be at all tolerable for the 8,000,000 people who 
will probably live within its metropolitan area fifty \ears hence. 



For further information, apply to J. F. Foster, General Superintendent South Park Commis- 
sioners, 57th Street and Cottage Grove avenue, Chicago, III.; Dwight Heald Perkins, Architect, 1200 
Steinway Hall, Chicago, III. 

14 




Chicago's recently appointed Park Commission urges a system covering 40,000 acres, and 
the preservation of nearly the entire water-front of the city. The commission urges the necessity 
of looking ahead and securing parks now for Chicago's population a few decades hence. Only 
a few of the existing streets are shown, as the map is on a comparatively small scale. The 
existing city is indicated in a general way by the surrounding boulevards shown in green. 



Milwaukee 



The existing and proposed park system of Milwaukee is less interesting than 
many of the others, because it follows the lines, always unfortunate, of the gridiron 
system of streets. It will be observed that but a small portion of the connecting 
links has been constructed. One interesting feature, however, and one that is a 
significant result of the park movement, is the proposal to connect existing parks 
along the lake-front with the large Lake Park at the north, thus bringing it into 
intimate connection with the city's heart. 

This appreciation of water-fronts is becoming more notable with every new report 
on existing or proposed park systems. In the case of small streams, the usual plan 
is to preserve the valley from hill-crest to hill-crest. In the case of the larger rivers, 
flowing through what will ultimately be the centers of cities, the adoption of the 
treatment by European cities of their water-fronts is being more and more strongly 
recommended. 



For further information, apply to Frank P. Schumacher, Secretary Park Commissioners, City 
Hall, Milwaukee, Wis. 

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All cities are looking to their water-fronts. Milwaukee's unfortunate adoption of Phil- 
adelphia's street system is responsible for the uninteresting character of the proposed park 
connections. 



Providence, R. I. 



Providence, Rhode Island, is a notable proof of this appreciation of the water- 
ways. The Hnes of the existing and proposed parks and parkways are largely 
determined by the streams. The conditions that confronted the Public Park 
Association of Providence in the number of corporate entities to be dealt with 
were similar to those that confronted the makers of the Boston system. Provi- 
dence has solved the difficulty in the same way by the appointment of a Metro- 
politan Park Commission. This appointment was made only in the early part of 
November, 1904. It is thought that the Commission will publish its report at 
about the time that this report on the Park Systems of American Cities appears. 

The existing areas of the Metropolitan Park district around Providence are 
somewhat less than 1,400 acres. The Blackstone Boulevard is 9,300 feet in length 
and 200 feet in width. Elmwood Avenue is parked by means of grass plots for 
about two miles, as our own Girard Avenue ought to be. The shores of Scott's 
Pond are maintained as a public park by its owner, a manufacturing corporation, 
in the belief that the enjoyment of them adds to the efficiency of labor of the 
neighboring employees. 

A general idea of the extent of the proposed additions can be gained by com- 
paring the brown on the map with the green. A greater area than there appears 
will, however, be secured for public uses, because of the admirable use of water. 
Not including these surfaces, the proposed Metropolitan Park System would add 
about a thousand acres. Mr. Henry A. Barker, Secretary of the Providence Park 
Association, states: 

" It is expected that a large part of it will be given by owners for the purpose of 
adding to the value of their own adjacent lands. As the features of irregular contour 
w'hich give these places special value for public reservations have retarded building opera- 
tions and the laying out of streets in the past, it is thought that a sum between two and 
three millions will amply suffice for acquiring such land as needs to be purchased. The 
length of connecting driveways necessary to make the 'inner circuit' will be about eighteen 
miles. The ' Pavvtucket ' and ' Pawtuxet ' parkways add eighteen more." 



For further information, apply to Henry A. Barker, Secretary of the Metropolitan Park Com- 
mission, 32 Custom House Street, Providence, R. I. 




A Rhode Island Metropolitan Park Commission was created by Act of the Legislature 
last November. The preliminarj' report contains the above system, proposed by the Provi- 
dence Park Association. The appreciation of parkways along creeks as well as rivers is 
evident. 



Portland, Seattle, San Francisco 
and Manila 

Turning from Providence in the East to the Pacific Slope, we pubhsh here- 
with the proposed outer park system of Portland, Oregon. It shows a clear under- 
standing that provision must now be made for the needs of coming generations. 
At the same time that this admirable system was prepared, the City of Seattle, Wash- 
ington, employed the same landscape architects to suggest a similar system. 

Under the lead of a business organization, the Merchants' Association of San 
Francisco, four millions of dollars out of a total loan of eighteen millions were 
recently voted by the people of San Francisco, for the purpose of beautifying that 
city by means of parks, parkways and public buildings, the sum being about evenly 
divided between them. San Francisco has less than one-third of Philadelphia's 
population, so that a loan of $12,000,000 would but add to Philadelphia's attrac- 
tiveness proportionately as much as San Francisco's recent loan will improve that city. 

Ex-Mayor Phelan, in a recent letter to the New York "Tribune," states that 
the Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, a United States reservation, are to be con- 
nected by a park drive a block wide, for the distance which separates them, which 
is nearly a mile. He adds : 

" It is proposed to purchase in different parts of the city two large playgrounds for 
children, and, in that part of the city known as the Mission, to acquire two blocks for a 
local park. AH this work may be said to be under way, inasmuch as the bonds are 
authorized and will be sold as the funds are needed, and condemnation suits have been 
ordered by the city fathers. 

"This initial work has been done without any definite plan. But what has been pro- 
posed is not inconsistent with a plan which is now being made by Daniel H. Burnham. 
* * * * He has twice visited San Francisco recently, and is now in Manila, execu- 
ting a commission for the Government for the improvement of that city. He is expected 
in San Francisco on February 25, and will have his report ready, as promised, before June i. 

"A society of citizens, known as the Association for the Improvement and Adornment 
of San Francisco, invited Mr. Burnham to make a plan, and he volunteered his services, 
the Association to bear the expense of draftsmen and other accessories. It is the intention 
of this Association to present the plan to the Board of Supervisors, or City Council, which 
is much interested in the work, and will, no doubt, be governed by Mr. Burnham's sugges- 
tions as far as they are practicable." 



For further information regarding Portland and Seattle, apply to the Olmsted Brothers, Laml- 
scape Architects, Brookline, Mass. 

For San Francisco and Manila, to Daniel H. Burnhaui, 1417 Railway Exchange BId'g, Jack- 
son and Michigan Boulevards, Chicago, III. 

For San Francisco, L. M. King, Secretary Merchants' Association of San Francisco, Mills 
Building, 7th floor, San Francisco, Cal. 

20 




The park movement is a national one. The Pacific slope is joining in it with character- 
istic enthusiasm. Seattle and San Francisco are abreast of Portland. The last report of 
Portland's Park Commission urges the acquisition of this system. 



21 



New Orleans 



Turning from the West to the South, we find New Orleans, although staggering 
under a load of debt caused by the war and the carpetbaggers' regime, accomplishing 
through noble endeavor a movement toward the City Beautiful. An extract from a 
letter from Mr. William Woodward will give the spirit and the facts of this southern 
city's energy. 

" I am proud that we have fallen into line of improvement at last. Of first importance is 
the rapid advancement of the work on the drainage, sewage and improved water-supply 
systems, for which some fifteen millions are already provided. The Legislature has recently 
authorized a bond issue of two millions to improve the wharves. The Central Commission 
of Parks and Avenues has begun active work and has secured the passage by the City Council 
of an ordinance dedicating a parkway, connecting the two principal parks, Audubon Park 
and City Park, following what is roughly the string across the bow of the crescent formed 
by the city along the curving bank of the Mississippi River. This wide parkway will furnish 
splendid sites for public institutions." 

Mr. Woodward's last sentence is not intended to apply to the Fairmount Park 
Parkway, but it does so accurately. 

Mr. Allison Owen writes: 

"The Park avenues and squares are cared for out of public funds given to individual 
commissions composed of from five to twenty-five citizens, who receive money from the public 
treasury and expend it as they see fit, making periodical reports. A little over a year ago 
the writer suggested the advisability of forming a central body, composed of two delegates 
from each of these various park and avenue commissions; the Central Commission was the 
result. Through it several other commissions have been formed. The whole subject of munici- 
pal improvements is a very difficult one in New Orleans, on account of the very small amount 
of money that it is possible to secure from the public treasury with which to do the work. 
Many of our best avenues are maintained entirely with funds privately subscribed by public-spirited 
citizens. The present generation has fallen heir to an enormous city debt which was started 
during the opulent period preceding the Civil War and very largely increased by the carpet- 
bag administration during reconstruction days. One-half of our present total revenue annually 
goes against this debt. The growth of the city during the last four or five years promises such 
an increase in population and taxable values that we are sanguine enough to believe that means 
will be found to extend and complete our present system; also to undertake very large and 
comprehensive improvements in the way of drives, parkways, playgrounds, etc., through the 
district which is at present unoccupied north of the city, if necessary throwing aside the 
severity of the gridiron street plan which some former city engineer has put on paper, but 
which up to the present has no other existence." 



For further information, ap[ily to William Woodward, Tulane University, or Allison Owen, 
Central Commission of Parks and Avenues, New Orleans, La. 

22 







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Ottawa, Canada 



Turning to the North, we find that the movement for park systems and the gen- 
eral beautification of cities is international. The Government of the Dominion of 
Canada appointed a commission to prepare a plan for the improvement of its capital 
city. There are few, if any, inland cities in the world that compare with Ottawa 
in the extent and picturesque character of the rivers and streams within her boundaries. 
While a small portion of their shores had already been secured, it was obvious that 
the public ownership of them should be greatly extended. 

Chief Webster, of the Bureau of Surveys of Philadelphia, in advocating increased 
park facilities, has carefully estimated that by 1950 Philadelphia will have a population 
of 3,500,000 people. In the same spirit Mr. Frederick G. Todd, the Landscape 
Architect of the Commission on the Improvement of Ottawa, said in his Report : 

" It does not require an unreasonable amount of faith to believe that the Ottawa of today 
is but the infant Ottawa of fifty years hence, and that the end of the present century will 
see Ottawa grown to such proportions that we of today would hardly recognize it. You 
may ask, is it reasonable to look so far ahead as one hundred years or more, and to make 
plans for generations in the distant future? We have only to study the history of the older 
cities, and note at what enormous cost they have overcome the lack of provision for their 
growth, to realize that the future prosperity and beauty of the city depends in a great measure 
upon the ability to look ahead, and the power to grasp the needs and requirements of the 
great population it is destined to have." 



For further information, apply to Frederick G. Todd, Esq., Landscape Arcliitect, Renouf 
Building, Montreal, P. Q. 

24 



MAP OF THE 

CITY OF OTTAWA 

EXISTIMG AND PR0RO3ED 
PARK SYSTEM. 

SCALE. 

d 




Ottawa and Montreal are gi\ ing examples to Canadian cities in taking advantage of 
their natural resources. The water-front of Ottawa is striking 



25 



Baltimore 



Unstunned by the conflagration, the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore has 
recently issued a very valuable report upon the parks of Greater Baltimore, which 
it Iiad prepared to publish before the fire. The map herewith reproduced shows 
that portion of the proposed system in the immediate vicinity of the city. Refer- 
ence to it will show how completely this city will be surrounded by parkways, con- 
necting the four existing large parks located at the four corners of the city. The 
proposals to accept the opportunities ofifered by the creek called Jones' Falls, — 
famous as the natural barrier which limited the ravages of the fire, — by the Back 
Bay River and Herring Run, by the Patapsco River and Gwynn's Falls and Gun- 
powder Falls Creeks, suggest the like opportunities furnished by Philadelphia in the 
exceptionally beautiful valleys of the Pennypack Creek and Mill Creek, Cobb's Creek 
and Tacony Creek. 

In publishing its Report, the Alunicipal Art Society of Baltimore obtained the 
cooperation of a number of other Baltimore organizations and guaranteed the cost of the 
Report, hoping that in recognition of its value the City would assume the contract. 
The hope was well founded, and the City appropriated $J,jOO to pay the printers and 
the landscape experts, an example which the Allied Organizations of Philadelphia can- 
not but hope will be followed by a city which is more than three times the size of Bal- 
timore and which has not suffered a great conflagration. 

Baltimore now has 1,447 acres of park land. The proposed addition to Balti- 
more's existing parks would give twenty-four small parks, covering altogether 204 
acres; additions to existing parks of about 320 acres; and valley parks and radial 
parkways with cross connections varying in width from 200 feet to a quarter of a 
mile, the total length being about fifty-six miles. In addition, great public reserva- 
tions are proposed, one of which would cover about 2,560 acres of water area and 
2,400 acres of land area; another, about 800 acres of each kind of area; a third, 
1,100 acres of land area and 180 acres of water area. Reservations that are even 
greater in extent are scarcely more than suggested in the Report, because of the 
pressing importance of other recommendations made therein. These outlying reser- 
vations cover sixty-one and three-quarter square miles. 

The estimated cost of securing the land for this system is $3,000,000. A loan 
of $1,000,000 was voted upon affirmatively in April, to begin the system. 

A lucid idea of the conditions of public improvements in Baltimore subsequent 
to the fire may be had from the striking letter of William Sherlock Swan, printed 
in the appendix. 



For further information, apply to Theodore Marburg, I4 Mt. Vernon Place, Bahimore ; or, to 
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., Lanilscape Architect, Brookline, Mass. 

26 



MAP OF THE aTY OF 

BALTIMORE 




Baltimore, undismayed by the fire, is going ahead with the acquisition of this system. A 
loan of one million dollars, which will secure about one-third of the land, was voted upon 
affirmatively in April of this year (1905). 



27 



Harrisburg 



Harrisburg, the Capital of our State, has secured the lead of Philadelphia, a lead 
that as Capital it ought to have, but a lead that Philadelphia, as the most impor- 
tant city of the State, ought to have held. A number of public-spirited citizens 
secured a report on a park system for that city, a map of which is herewith repro- 
duced. A campaign was fought recently upon the question whether or not that 
plan should be adopted in principle, and the candidate who stood upon its adoption 
secured the mayoralty. It will be observed that a very important part of the recom- 
mendation is the preservation of the banks of the Susquehanna. This does not 
involve quite the same difficulty that the redemption of our own water-front along 
the Schuylkill involves, because it is not necessary to roof over railroads in order to 
shut them out of sight; but the same idea should undoubtedly be adopted for the 
Schuylkill as has been adopted and already partly carried out for the Susquehanna. 

We are glad to note the agitation for the extension of the Capitol Park toward 
the railroad. It should be extended all the way, and a monumental station erected, 
with government buildings on each side of the park. A similar proposal is now 
being carried out in Cleveland. This is not a matter that concerns Harrisburg so 
much as the Keystone State. 



For further information, apply to J. Horace McFarland, Harrisburg; or, to Warren H. Man- 
ning, Lanilscape Architect, iioi Treniont Building, Boston, Mass. 

28 




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Memphis 



Memphis was one of the first cities of the Middle West to acquire a chain of 
parks. It will be observed that its system is already fairly complete. The use of 
the water-front is not considerable, but the Mississippi River is its only water-front, 
in sharp distinction from Philadelphia. This city is e.xceptionally fortunate in its 
two river-fronts. The Delaware is amply able to take care of the larger trafSc, 
leaving the Schuylkill for such traffic as the Seine takes at Paris, — coal-barges, 
river-transit systems, etc. Such traffic will not at all interfere with making the 
Schuylkill a water parkway, occupying the very heart of our city. 



For further information, apply to George E. Kessler, Landscape Architect, 525 Frisco Building, 
St. Louis, Mo. 

30 




Memphis, with but one water-front, malces little use of it for park purposes. With the Dela- 
ware entirely competent to take the business water traffic, Philadelphia has a rare opportunity to 
make the Schuylkill a park river throughout the city. 



31 



Omaha, Toledo and Louisville 

The bad influence of a system of streets prepared for a comparatively small city 
and indefinitely extended is shown in Philadelphia, where William Penn's plan of 
straight streets and rectangular blocks, unrelieved by diagonal or curving streets, has 
been ruthlessly extended beyond the limits for which Penn intended it. But Phila- 
delphia's example to other cities has been as bad for them as for herself. Omaha 
illustrates the force of this ; yet the park system, already secured, tends to break up 
the appearance of monotonous regularity of the city map. This system has been 
acquired within the last few years. It is proposed to secure other parks in outlying 
sections. The southern portion of the city is already fairly surrounded by the most 
interesting portion of the park system. Fifteen miles of parkways have been con- 
structed, varying from 150 to 200 feet in width. Another parkway ten miles in 
length is officially proposed. 

Toledo is also in the movement for connecting its parks by parkways. The 
approximate length of its parkways will be twelve miles, their width varying from 
150 to 250 feet. Less use of the water-front is made than appears desirable. 

Louisville, Ky., is one of the cities that is at the beginning of the acquisition 
of a park system, although an approach to its main country park, and a return 
drive have already been secured. Connections with the water-front parks have been 
suggested. A great deal has been done in Louisville in the direction of children's 
playgrounds, and the reports are valuable, distinctly. 

Cities that secure outer parks grow into regions that are well supplied with 
breathing spaces. Their death rate in the future will be less than their present 
death rate. 



Kor further information regarding Omalia, apply to C. D. C. Jewett, Secretary of the Park 
Commission, Omaha, Neb. 

For further information regarding the Outer Park System of Louisville, apply to Frederick Law 
Olmsted, Jr., Landscape Architect, Brookline, Mass.; for Playgrounds, to the Secretary of the 
Louisville Recreation League, Louisville, Ky. 

Regarding Memphis, to George E. Kessler, 523 Frisco Building, St. Louis, Mo. 



32 




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EXISTING PARK SYSTKM 




The park system makes an interesting variation in the otherwise monotonous 

system of streets 




Louisville's public playgrounds are famous. Its park connections are not yet complete 



35 



We now come to a group of cities that are not only acquiring outer 
park systems, such as will be suggested for Philadelphia, but securing 
central embellishments by parkways and grouping public buildings, just 
as the Fairmount Park Parkway will embellish the center of Philadelphia 
and will afford sites for all public buildings to be erected hereafter. 



Cleveland 

THE GROUP PLAN 

In a report of the St. Louis Group Plan Commission, to be hereinafter referred 
to, there is the following sentence: 

"The City of Cleveland, which has a population of about one-half that of St. Louis, 
has actually started work on a municipal group scheme which the average citizens of any 
city in the United States would pronounce 'ideal, but absolutely impossible of fulfilment.' 
Cleveland has condemned acres in the best part of the municipal district and is building 
the buildings, just as she created her wonderfully beautiful park system." 

This "ideal, but absolutely impossible-of-fulfilment " plan that is being fulfilled 
was suggested several years ago, when it happened that the construction of a City 
Hall, a Court-house, a Public Library, a new Union Station, and a United States 
PostofSce was being considered. It was proposed that these buildings should be 
arranged around a mall so as to increase their convenience, to produce a complete 
effect, to enhance the beauty of each other and to give to the stranger an impression 
that would never be forgotten. After several years of effort, the plan herewith repro- 
duced was presented and has been adopted. It consists of a central mall cut from 
a part of the city, which, though near its center, has no buildings of great value, 
the land itself being less costly than that which surrounds it. At the head of this 
mall the United States Post-office is now in course of construction, balancing which 
appears the proposed Public Library, while at either side of the foot of the mall 
and facing the lake ate shortly to be built the City Hall and the County building. 
The Union Station, ample in size and treatment for the needs of a rapidly growing 
city of 400,000 inhabitants, is shown terminating the composition to the northward, 
while bordering the lake is a proposed landing-place for passenger steamers. 

The situation is best described in a letter dated October 29, 1904, from Mr. 
Arnold W. Brunner, a member of the Commission : 

"Matters are progressing well in Cleveland. The present condition is this : The sites 
for the City Hall and the County Court-house — that is to say, the two buildings facing 
the lake — are purchased. Architects have been selected for these two buildings, and the 
plans are progressing. The Post-office is well under way, and several parcels of ground in 
the mall have already been bought by the City and new ground is constantly being 

36 



acquired. The Chamber of Commerce, at a meeting held September 27, 1904., enthusiasti- 
cally approved the entire scheme, and I thinit I may say that the progress is most gratifying." 

Cleveland's Group Plan establishes an entranceway to the city which for dignity 
and beauty will hardly be surpassed in any city in the world. Only a portion of 
the expense can be charged against the Group Plan. If there were no such plan the 
necessity would still exist for the purchase of sites for and erection of many buildings. 

In addition to this, it must be borne in mind that without the Group Plan 
more costly building sites would certainly have been selected than have now been 
secured. Therefore, the net cost of the Group Plan is represented by the estimates 
for the land and improvement of the mall, $3,374,780. This is less than 25 per 
cent of the cost of the public buildings that will face it. Should we, however, 
include other buildings that will face the mall, the cost of the splendid setting will 
fall to 15 per cent, or perhaps even 10 per cent, of the total expenditure. 

The citizens of Cleveland may well regard the cost of the Group Plan as small 
in comparison with the permanent advantage of possessing such a civic center. 
Nor will the returns on the investment be merely beauty and civic pride. There 
will be a great increase in the value of surrounding property, and a consequent increase 
in the amount of taxes collected. And, beyond all monetary considerations, the 
city must derive large benefits from its foresight in paving the way to what, but a 
few years hence, may correspond favorably with those wonderful and beautiful archi- 
tectural effects in European capitals that command the admiration of the world. 

THE PARK SYSTEM 

Cleveland is acquiring an outer park system that is shown in part upon the 
map. Though not great in acreage, it is so wisely planned as to produce an 
impression far beyond its actual area. It will be noted that its present encircling 
park system extends about one-quarter of the way around the city. Under date of 
February 2, 1905, the Chief Engineer of Parks wrote: 

"We have six miles of parkway constructed. These parkways vary in width from 300 
to I, zoo feet, according to the lay of the land. We intend to start this summer securing 
land for a parkway between Edgewater and Brookside Parks, and also between Ambler and 

Woodland Hills Parks It will probably be several years before the system as 

planned is completed. To complete the girdle of parkways around the city will require 
the construction of sixteen miles of additional parkways." 

The city now has 1,52+ acres of park land, of which no less than 676 acres 
have been donated. A finer monument, a nobler philanthropy, than such a bene- 
faction cannot be devised. 

For fiirther information about tlie Cleveland Group System, apply to Arnold W. Brunner, 33 
Union Square West, New York City. 

For further information upon the Park System, apply to \V. A. Stinchcomb, Chief Engineer of 
Parks, Cleveland, Ohio. 

38 



St. Louis 

THE GROUP PLAN 

Spurred on by the need of new public buildings and by the success of Cleve- 
land, the city of St. Louis has appointed an official commission which has prepared 
a plan opening a parkway between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets extending 
from Olive Street to Clark Avenue, thus forming a municipal court on which the 
recently constructed City Hall will face. Opposite this it is proposed to place the 
new Four Courts and at one end the Public Library. Such a space will provide 
sites for the public and semi-public buildings needed in St. Louis for many years. 

THE OUTER PARK SYSTEM 

St. Louis has recognized the advisability of connecting her scattered parks into 
a system, by appointing a commission charged with studying the question. They 
propose the improvement and extension of the historic Kingshighway so as to afford 
not only a pleasure-drive but a convenient connection between Carondelet, Forest 
and O'Fallon Parks, extending even to proposed parks at the extreme ends of 
the city's frontage on the Mississippi River. The proposed parkway will tie together 
not only the parks but several important residential districts now badly connected. 
The estimated cost of these improvements is $2,000,000. 

A striking suggestion included in the report of the Commission are the alterna- 
tive plans for a genuinely attractive viaduct to carry to Kingshighway across the 
railroads. The purely utilitarian bridges that heretofore have generally been con- 
structed in this country, with but few isolated exceptions, are beginning to give way 
to bridges in which beauty is considered as well as carrying capacity. To secure a 
beautiful bridge, it will not do first to determine its construction from a purely 
engineering point of view and then to spend such and such a sum in trying to 
tack beauty on to it. As the beauty of the city is dependent upon its city plan, 
so the beauty of a bridge is dependent upon its basic plan. 

The present park acreage of St. Louis is 2,183. No parkways have been con- 
structed as yet by the city. 

The Kingshighway will vary from lOO to 300 feet. Owing to varying phys- 
ical conditions, the same plan of development is not preserved throughout. The 
Kingshighway, combined with broader parkways and comparatively newer boule- 
vard spaces, will make a total length of approximately twenty-five miles. 



For further information regarding the Group Plan of St. Louis, apply to VVm. G. Eames, 
Lincoln Trust Building, St. Louis, Mo. 

For the Outer Park System, George E. Kessler, Landscape Architect, 523 Frisco Building, St. 
Louis, Mo. 

40 




Spurred on by the success ot Cleveland, the City Cuuncils and Mayor of St. Louis 
have had this plan for grouping public buildings prepared. It is as central as the Fair- 
mount Park Parkway will be. 



41 




St. Louis also proposes to link its parks, building monumental bridges to 
carry the connection, the Kingshighway, o\er the railroads 



St. Paul and Minneapolis 

THE OUTER PARK SYSTEM 

The joint action of St. Paul and Minneapolis is producing an altogether delight- 
ful and distinctive park system, splendid advantage being taken of the water front- 
age, not only on the Mississippi River, but on the inland lakes. The map, which 
reproduces few of the existing streets, sufScientl}- indicates the great extent of the 
system. The present joint park area is 2,990 acres, with thirty-four miles of park- 
way varying from 66 to 800 feet in width. 

The proposed outer park system was an important feature of the Twin City 
Exhibit (the exhibit of Minneapolis and St. Paul) at the St. Louis Exposition, 
where the Exhibit secured first prize in the municipal competition. 

THE GROUP PLAN AND APPROACHES 

St. Paul has recently been embellished by the erection of a beautiful State 
Capitol, which, however, is lost in a maze of streets and seen with difficulty except 
from distant hills. Proposals which find the widest acceptance with citizens and 
which have received the approval of the Park Commissioners have been made by 
the architect of the building, Mr. Cass Gilbert, looking to 

1st. The enlargement and proper treatment of the open space about the building. 

2d. The formation of a splendid municipal court leading in the direction of the 
business district. 

3d. A direct and dignified approach to the Capitol from Summit Avenue and 
the site of the new cathedral. 

4.th. The development of a broad avenue at right angles to the facade of the 
Capitol extending southward to "Seven Corners." 

It will thus be seen that three parkway approaches are proposed for the Min- 
nesota State Capitol, while one alone is as yet thought of for the City Hall in 
Philadelphia, a building that has cost three times as much as the Capitol. Mr. 
Gilbert has been good enough to write especially for this pamphlet a most inter- 
esting account of the proposed improvements for St. Paul, which is printed at page 56. 



For further information regarding the Minneapolis Park Svstem. apply to J, A. Ridgway, 
Secretary, The Minneapolis Park Commission; or Warren H. Manning, iioi Tremont Building, 
Boston, Mass. 

Regarding the St. Paul System, to Fred Nussbaumer, Superintendent Department of Parks, 
St. Paul, Minn. 

Regarding St. Paul State Capitol Approaches, to Cass Gilbert, 79 Wall Street, New York City. 

44 




Not content with one parkway as an approach to the new State Capitol, the Park 
Commission of St. Paul has approved this plan for three. Shall not Philadelphia construct 
at an early date its Fairmount Park Parkway, which will not only be an approach to its City 
Hall, but bring our great park to the very center of the city? That will be an achieve- 
ment no other city has attempted. 



45 



Hartford, Connecticut 

THE OUTER PARK SYSTEM 

The parks of Hartford are already largely secured, yet many connections have 
still to be made, as indicated by the map. On the water-front just south of River- 
side Park there is a heavy black line. This should have been shown in green, as 
it is an extension of Riverside Park made very recently. This is significant, not 
only of the fact that the river-fronts of cities are becoming more and more valued 
for park purposes, but also of the fact that parks are being increased so rapidly 
that it is difficult to keep abreast of their growth in regard to so many cities. 

The present park area of Hartford is l,200 acres, which, at a population of 
84,000, gives one acre of park to every seventy inhabitants. Philadelphia has only 
one acre for every 350 inhabitants. 

Hartford is considering a grouping of public buildings around Bushnell Park. 
The proposal has received a great deal of comment throughout the state. Hart- 
ford is thus leading the cities of its size in the agitation for the grouping of 
public buildings. 



For further information, apply to G. A. Parker, Superintendent Keney Park, P. O. Box 397, 
Hartford, Conn.; Frederick L. Ford, Chief Engineer, Hartford, Conn.; or Walter Schutz, Secretary 

Municipal Art Society, 50 State Street, Hartford, Conn. 

46 



Buffalo 



THE PARK SYSTEM AND THE CITY PLAN 

The park system of Buffalo is one of the most interesting of America. Less 
extended than that of Boston, it yet ofiers a remarkable variety. It reaches not 
merely around the city but into its heart, at Niagara Square. It will be observed 
that Buffalo has a very admirable street system. L'Enfant, who planned Washington, 
planned Buffalo. He was a genius. Haussmann, who came sixty years later to 
Paris, adopted the Washington plan in principle, and Paris has been made beautiful 
in forty years. Why not Philadelphia ? 

The central portion of the business area of Buffalo, to and from which the 
traffic flows, is marked by Niagara Square, and from that Square the streets branch 
out like the ribs of a fan. Philadelphia can adopt this plan in many outlying sections ; 
and its chief idea, that of direct communication between important sections, should 
undoubtedly be adopted. It is astonishing how hard it is to rid the city of the 
octopus that was put upon it unknowingly by William Penn, when for a city of 
but two square miles he planned a system of streets which was not objectionable 
perhaps for a city of that size, but which is absurd for our present vast area. 

It will be observed that Buffalo's park system is not yet complete, as a short 
connecting link is to be contructed between the northern and southern sections. 

An attractive feature of Buffalo, as of Washington, is the circular parks which, 
located at the intersection of several streets, resulting from its plan, end the vistas 
of those streets very attractively. It has two unique Squares," because, while 
rectangular in outline, they are placed at angles of forty-five degrees to the streets 
that come into them with their centers at the points at which the streets, if con- 
tinued, would intersect, again creating attractive vistas. The widest parkway of 
Buffalo is the Scajaquada, 300 feet in width and three-fifths of a mile in length. 
Buffalo has also several parkways 200 feet in width, the width that is becoming 
the standard in this country. Its total park area is 1,049 acres. 

Although its population is but one -third of Philadelphia's, Buffalo has more 
than twice as many small triangles less than one acre in extent. It seems remarkable 
that Philadelphia should have been so backward in taking advantage of the oppor- 
tunities offered by the few diagonal avenues that have managed to retain a place on 
the city plan, such as Passayunk Avenue, Ridge Avenue, Germantown Avenue and 
others. There is no reason why the city should not secure them and employ a 
sufficient number of men to look after them. The fact that these small intersections 
have been frequently placed under the charge of the Bureau of Highways is no 
reason why they should continue so. They should be taken from that Bureau and 
given to the Bureau of City Property, whose duty it should be to make and keep 
them beautiful. 

48 




After Washington, Buffalo is the best planned city in America; and it is the work 
of the same genius, L' Enfant. Notice the diversity in its almost complete park system. 
Notice the way the streets branch out from Niagara Square, the heart of the city. 



49 



THE GROUP PLAN 

Buffalo has many railroads but no adequate terminal station. It is now pro- 
posed to give the city a worthy entranceway, clearing away the buildings fnom a 
great triangular area near Niagara Square, whence radiate the principal streets. 
To the north of it will be the new Union Station, beyond which are proposed docks 
upon the lake - front for passenger steamers. The other sides of the triangle are 
flanked by broad avenues upon which, facing the proposed park, public buildings 
may be erected, the City Hall standing already in such a position. Thus, Buffalo, 
like Cleveland, proposes to make the civic center serve also as the gateway of the city. 



For further information as to the Park System, apply to John L. Brothers, Superintentlent Park 
Commissions, Room 5, City Hall, Buffalo, N. Y.; as to the Group Plan, George Cary, 18+ 
Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, N. Y. 

50 




The plan for grouping public buildings at Buffalo, creating open space, an impressive 
first view of the city, a central Union Station and an interesting and attractive business 
water-front. 



51 



Washington, D. C. 

Every American cares first about the improvement of his own city, but beyond 
that there is one thing all are agreed on. Washington, the Nation's Capital, 
must be made the most beautiful city in the land. Three years ago the Senate 
appointed a commission of experts of the greatest ability to prepare a plan for the 
improvement of the District of Columbia. 

THE PLAN OF THE CITY 

The Commission at once directed public attention to the altogether admirable 
street plan of the city, a plan prepared by L' Enfant with the cooperation of 
Washington and Jefferson. Such a plan, in which diagonal avenues traverse a rec- 
tangular network of streets, and have at their intersections Email public parks in 
the form of squares, circles or triangles, is one that should be adopted in principle 
for the outlying level sections of Philadelphia, giving way to curved streets where 
the rolling character of the ground makes them reasonable. Washington has, chiefly 
at such intersections, 275 green spots less than an acre in extent. Philadelphia 
has not a dozen of them. 

THE CITY'S GATEWAY 

The Commission made many important recommendations, the first of which 
was that the Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad should be removed from the 
mall which it so greatly disfigures, and a Union Station worthy of the Nation's 
capital be erected at a more suitable point. This recommendation was accepted, 
and the splendid new station is now approaching completion. 

THE MALL 

Next the Commission recommended that a stately mall eight hundred and ninety 
feet wide be laid out on a line from the dome of the Capitol to the Washington 
Monument, and extended in a straight line to the Potomac River, the mall to be a 
broad lawn of grass flanked on either side by four rows of American elms. This 
project is shown by a bird's-eye view herewith reproduced. 

THE PLACING OF THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS 

The Commission also devised an intelligent and reasonable scheme for the 
placing of future public buildings ; those related to legislative affairs about the 
capitol ; those for administrative purposes about Lafayette Square near the White 
House ; those for general purposes, such as museums, flanking the mall ; and those 
for the public uses of the District of Columbia in the triangle between Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue and the mall. It is most gratifying that since this well-considered 

52 






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scheme has been published Congress has abandoned the random choice of sites, 
six pubHc and three semi-pubh'c buildings having been authorized in accordance 
with the plans of the Commission. 

THE OUTER PARK SYSTEM 

A most important part of the Report of the Commission deals with the much- 
needed systematizing of Washington's Parks. In the accompanying map existing 
parks are shown in light green, other areas open to the use of the public in dark 
green, and the proposed extensions of the park system in brown. These recom- 
mendations, involving as they do the reclamation of the malarial Anacostia flats, a 
park by the riverside reaching to the Great Falls of the Potomac, and a chain of 
driveways connecting the hilltop forts about the city, would give Washington a 
total park area of 8,000 acres and a system of parkways sixty-five miles long. 

A very interesting proposal of the Commission is that for an elevated driveway, 
along certain parts of the river-front, as suggested by the example of foreign cities. 
Should the funds of the Allied Organizations justify a report upon the improve- 
ment of the Schuylkill River Front, the subject of such elevated driveways will 
receive extended consideration. 

It is noted that by a recent executive order the President has constituted an 
informal commission to advise upon the choice of sites for public buildings within 
the District of Columbia and upon the designs for the exterior of such buildings, 
and that he has chosen all the members of the former Senate Commission to act 
upon the new Executive Commission. 

If such great progress has been made in three years in devising wise plans for 
the improvement of Washington, in securing for such plans the hearty indorse- 
ment of the American public and in making a beginning of their execution, why 
cannot we in Philadelphia do things of equally great importance to ourselves by 
planning how best to make use of our many splendid opportunities ? 

For further information, apply to Daniel H. Burnham, Chicago, 111.; Frederick L. Olmsted, Jr., 
Brookline, Mass. ; Augustus St. Gaudens, New York ; Charles McKim, New York, Members of Com- 
mission ; or, to Mr. Charles Moore, Chairman American Civic Association's Committee on the Im- 
provement of Washington, Union Trust Company, Detroit, Mich.; or to Mr. Glenn Brown, Secre- 
tary American Institute of Architects, The Octagon, Washington, D. C. 

l' ENVOI 

In 1880 Philadelphia led the cities of America in park area. In a quarter of a 
century we have fallen far behind. The cities that we have cited, and we do not 
claim that the list is complete, show that the Philadelphia Allied Organizations are 
but abreast of the times in urging the acquisition for park purposes of the natu- 
rally beautiful valleys and wooded areas in the suburbs of the city, and the construc- 
tion of parkways between them, in order to secure a Comprehensive Park System. 

54 




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APPENDIX 

MEMORANDUM RELATING TO DEVELOPMENT OF APPROACHES 
TO THE MINNESOTA CAPITOL, ST. PAUL 

The topography of the City of St. Paul offers exceptional natural advantages for an 
interesting and picturesque, if not imposing development of a city plan. Located as the 
city is upon a site surrounded by hills which rise, in some instances, to over 200 feet above 
the level of the Mississippi River, the original location of the city was determined by the 
convenience of landing merchandise incident to the river traffic, and hence its first growth 
followed the line of the river and extended back from the river along the lines easiest of 
communication, without reference to any well-defined plan. As the city grew, additions 
were added at the conxenience of real estate operators and without very much relation to 
what had already been laid out. 

Later a more systematic method of platting additions to the city was adopted, resulting 
in a more or less regular plan of streets which, as a general thing, had absolutely no rela- 
tion to the topography, and cuts through hills and across valleys regardless of the natural 
conditions. 

A few important points were fortunately reserved or reclaimed from the general medley 
of streets, largely by the action of public-spirited persons acting in their individual capacity. 

Fortunately, however, one important residence street, known as Summit Avenue, follows 
the crest of the hill upon which the best residence district is located, and this avenue 
affords building sites of unusual beauty. 

The construction of the new State Capitol has awakened interest on the part of the 
community, and the Civic League and other bodies have for several years past been urging 
upon public authorities an improvement of that part of the city which is nearest the new 
Capitol. The interest, therefore, centers principally around this structure, which is now 
approaching completion. 

The new Capitol is located on a site of irregular shape, illustrated by diagram Xo. i. 
Its main axis extends east and west parallel with University Avenue. Its main front, being 
toward the south, is at an angle of approximately 45° with Wabasha street, which is one of 
the principal streets of the city. The main line of travel between St. Paul and Minneapo- 
lis is by way of Wabasha Street to University Avenue, passing the front of the Capitol at 
an angle, and thence west on University Avenue to Minneapolis. 

If the Capitol building had been placed one block farther west and half a block farther 
north, i. e., its east and west axis upon the center of University Avenue and its north and 
south axis on the center of Park Avenue, the dome would then have been found to be 
almost exactly upon the center axis of Wabasha Street. This was suggested by the architect 
immediately after his appointment, but, as the property had nearly all been purchased and 
conditions existed which made it inexpedient to urge a change at that time, no serious con. 

56 



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sideration was given to this suggestion. The present condition, therefore, is that the new 
Capitol is not upon the axis of any important street, and the ground surrounding it is of 
a very unsyinmetrical outline, particularly on the main front. In other respects, however, 
the location of the new building is admirable. It is conveniently and centrally placed and 
is at a considerable elevation, the land at this point being about 180 feet above the level 
of the river and nearly 100 feet abo\'e the general level of the business district, while it is 
approximately on a level with St. Anthony Hill (the principal residence district) above 
referred to. The building, therefore, is conspicuous from a distance but not visible from 
the main streets of the city. The development of the site brings with it the probability of 
the construction of high buildings in the neighborhood, which would seriously detract from 
the importance of the structure and obscure it from view. 

The problem, therefore, appears to be : 

1st. To enlarge and to make symmetrical the immediate surroundings of the building. 

2d. To open up the vista from the business district. 

3d. To provide a line of approach from Summit Avenue to St. Anthony Hill. 

4th. To develop a broad avenue at right angles to the principal fagade extending directly 
south to a point known as Seven Corners, where a number of streets intersect. 

The property adjacent to the Capitol site has but few buildings of value, but on the 
triangular block southwest of the site is located a large public school which, while of inferior 
construction and very bad design, is still considered to be a valuable asset of the city. The 
principal street-car lines between St. Paul and Minneapolis pass along Wabasha Street to 
the southwest of the building. It is necessary, therefore, first to get the consent of the 
city authorities to remove the school building and to change the street-car tracks, so as to 
permit the rounding out of the Capitol site in this direction. A movement has already 
been made to this end. The president of the street-railway company has given his personal 
assurance that he will aid in the project and move the car-tracks whenever the city is willing 
to change the line of Wabasha Street. 

Park Avenue, next west of the Capitol, has -been widened and straightened, and the 
city authorities have now recommended the purchase of the block west of Park Avenue, so 
that it is not improbable that the land immediately west and south of the building will be 
required for public purposes in the near future. 

The second in order of development is the opening of the vista from the direction of 
the business district, and to this end it is proposed to purchase the three narrow blocks 
that lie between Wabasha and Cedar Streets, from East Tenth Street to Central Avenue. 
(See plat No. i. That portion of this plat that is colored shows the property now included 
in the Capitol site.) This would also include the straightening of Cedar Street and the 
purchase or restriction of the land east of Cedar Street, so as to make a public garden and 
to provide sites for future public buildings for state and municipal purposes, thus pre- 
venting the erection of any high buildings near the Capitol toward the southeast, i. e., the 
direction in which the principal business district lies. 

The old State Capitol is located between East Tenth Street and Exchange, Wabasha 
and Cedar Streets, and the old building will probably be retained for public purposes. 
When this part of the project is completed, a vista of something over 2,000 feet from the old 
Capitol to the new will be obtained, and the space between the buildings on either side of 
the public garden would approximate 400 feet. 

The next step in this improvement should be the construction of an avenue from the 

58 



Capitol site to St. Anthony Hill at the point where Summit Avenue begins to wind along 
the crest of the hill ; in other words, extending from the Capitol site to the corner of 
Summit Avenue and Dayton Avenue, affording a vista of about 3,500 feet. 

The land at the corner of Dayton and Summit Avenues has been purchased by the 
Archbishop of St. Paul, and plans are now under way for the erection of a Cathedral at 
this location. The land between the Capitol and the Cathedral is very uneven, and diffi- 
culties in the grades, especially at the intersection of the streets, would be encountered. 
The lowest point of land would be at about a point where Rice Street crosses the proposed 
avenue, and a viaduct would probably have to be built at this location so that Rice Street 
could pass under the avenue. 

Lastly, the project includes the construction of a broad avenue to the south of the center 
axis of the main front of the building, crossing the street to Seven Corners. The last- 
named point is one at which a number of streets concentrate and several lines of street- 
cars cross. At about half the distance between Seven Corners and the new Capitol there 
is at present a small park surrounded by inexpensive houses. There is a steep descent from 
the south side of this park to College Avenue, which runs diagonally south of it. The 
difference in grade is such as to prevent a driveway without deflecting from the main axis. 
It is, therefore, proposed to make use of this point of land by locating thereon a Soldier's 
Monument, and to place broad flights of steps thence down to the College Avenue grade 
and to that portion of the avenue which leads to Seven Corners. 

The various parts of the project above suggested would be connected by streets and 
avenues now existing to the park system, which extends practically around the entire city. 

It will be observed that the various features of this development as shown upon Plat E 
are quite unsymmetrical, and the scheme as a whole is doubtless open to objection on this 
account. 

In the consideration of any such project, it is necessary to take into account the present 
streets and property lines so far as possible, and to devise an arrangement which will accom- 
modate itself to existing conditions. 

It has been roughly estimated that the cost of the land alone for this project would be 
about $2,000,000. The plan should be developed a little at a time, and from year to year, 
as the finances of the city would permit, without making a heavy additional burden of 
taxation upon the City or State. In the meanwhile the purpose of the present plats is 
simply to indicate the main points of development, with the understanding that further 
study of the subject would doubtless produce a more symmetrical design which would 
accomplish the general intention outlined above. 

The present status of the matter is that the Park Board of the City of St. Paul has, at 
a public meeting, unanimously approved of the project and recommended it to the City 
for adoption. The City has not as yet adopted the design, but has proceeded with the 
purchase of land west of the Capitol building, and the School Board has taken it into 
account by deferring action upon proposed additions to the Madison School Building 
above referred to, and the Board of State Capitol Commissioners has likewise deferred 
final action upon the development of the Capitol site until the City and State shall have 
moved in the matter. 

In the meanwhile it is being actively discussed by the daily newspapers, and a strong 
public sentiment favors it. 

Plat No. I shows the present Capitol site and the streets adjacent thereto. 

Plat A shows the development proposed to be undertaken first. 

59 



Plat B shows that which should come next in order. 

Plat C shows the extension of the foregoing to Seven Corners. 

Plat D shows the foregoing, together with the addition of land northeast and west of 
the Capitol building, and 

Plat E shows the foregoing, with the avenue from the Capitol to the Cathedral. 

Inasmuch as the Cathedral site has just been purchased since these plats were made 
and the purchase of the block west of the Capitol has also been consummated, the order in 
which the several parks of the development should be undertaken would be to some 
extent modified. 

New York, December 6, IQ04. CaSS GILBERT. 



We are at liberty to publish the following striking letter, dated January 14, 
1905, written by Mr. Sherlock Swann to Mr. George Cary, of Buffalo: 

"The fire of last February burnt out an area of 140 acres, on which were about 1,500 
buildings. Before the fire was fairly out, plans were set on foot to turn what appeared to 
be a great calamity into what will eventually be a great blessing. A large committee of 
our most prominent citizens was called together by the late Mayor Robert M. McLane, to 
advise him as to what should be done. The result of their deliberations was the appoint- 
ment of the Burnt District Commission, of which I have the honor to be Chairman, to 
carry out a system of streets and wharf improvement recommended by them. A S6, 000, 000 
loan was authorized, in addition to $4,600,000 which the city already had on hand, result- 
ing from the sale of the Western Maryland Railroad. This entire sum, namely, §10,600,000, 
was placed at the disposal of this Commission, to make the improvements already recom- 
mended and others that might be thought proper. In addition to this sum there is to be 
voted on at our spring election the issuance of a loan of S2, 000, 000 for the improvement 
of what is called the "Annex," which is the outlying districts of the city; a loan of 
$1,000,000 for the improvement of the Park System, and a loan of $10,000,000 for the con- 
struction of sewers. Not being satisfied with this, the City Government is now efifecting 
plans to ask for an additional loan of $5,000,000 for street paving, $1,000,000 for the con- 
struction of schoolhouses and $1,000,000 for the construction of tirehouses, making a total 
of $20,000,000, which, together with the $10,600,000 already on hand, will amount to $30,- 
600,000. You ask the question how the City expects to be reimbursed for such an outlay. 
It would be unnecessary for me to discuss with you, being a resident of Buffalo, the 
enhancement of property values where improved pavements are laid, or the necessity of 
having a sufficient number of school and fire-engine houses. The sewers when built will 
be self-supporting. The amount intended to be expended for the park system will not 
require any increase in taxation, as the receipts from what is known as the "Park Tax" 
paid by the street railways, will be ample to meet the interest upon it and allow for a 
sinking-fund. The "Annex" loan of $2,000,000 will bring hundreds of thousands of dol- 
lars' worth of property into the full rate of taxes, which now under the original agreement 
of annexation pays a very low rate; therefore, the question comes down as to how the City 
expects to get a return for the $10,600,000, or as much of it as we may expend. I will 
call attention to the fact that in the fifteen street widenings and the dock improvement we 
will remove about 600 pieces of property from the tax books, so that it appears on the face 

60 



of it that not only will we have to carry the Sio, 600,000 burden, but the taxable basis will 
be reduced to that extent ; such, however, is not the case. When these buildings are 
removed it must tend greatly to enhance the value of others that remain, which will be 
reflected by higher assessed valuations for taxable purposes. I will mention a fact to bear 
me out in this, that on a small street that we widened there is a certain piece which had 
hung fire in the market for many years. I think it was in the neighborhood of eighty feet 
deep, with a building upon it. Since the fire we took twenty feet from its depth to widen 
the street, leaving only a sixty-foot lot without a building, the one that was there having 
been burned with the rest, and an offer of double the price previously asked with the building 
on it has been refused. The enhancement in the value of all the property as a general 
thing in the burnt district has been something marvelous, owing to the improvements we 
have so far made. By the acquirement of what is known here as the Dock property, which 
consisted of a lot of old obsolete docks and piers that were originally intended for the craft 
of fifty years ago, the City will be enabled to construct modern piers and docks capable of 
taking care of large vessels and enabling them to deliver their goods in the very heart of 
the City. This property has been used to a great extent in recent years for storage pur- 
poses, and the water was of no value. Now it will be put to the greatest utility under 
municipal ownership. Already applications for leases of this space exceed the amount avail- 
able certainly fivefold. There is no question that public improvements of this character in 
any city must in time not only repay for any reasonable outlay, but as years go on, the 
greater taxable basis eventually decreases the amount of levy annually necessary. Judging 
from the results obtained here, and as you know we have not as yet had a year in which 
to see them, I would say that any city that loses or lets pass an opportunity for great pub- 
lic improvement takes a step backward in the path of progress. 

Very truly yours, (Signed) SHERLOCK SVVANN, Chairman." 



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